6th Hampden District candidates agree to support higher education, differ on how they would do that

Photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanCandidates appear at in the Springfield Technical Community College Student Government Association forum Monday. They are, from left, Robert A. Magovern, Republican and state Rep. James T. Welch, Democrat, vying for state Senate and Michael Finn, Democrat and Gregory Neffinger, Republican, competing for the House.

The candidates are Agawam City Councilor and Republican Robert A. Magovern and state Rep. James Welch, D-West Springfield, who are running for state senate, and West Springfield Town Council President Michael J. Finn, a Democrat, and Republican Gregory C. Neffinger, who are running for state representative.

They spoke during a debate at Springfield Technical Community College sponsored by its student government association that attracted about 30.

Magovern and Neffinger said they want to help out higher education by lowering taxes to stimulate the economy, which they said should raise tax revenues.

Magovern, who formerly served on Westfield State College’s Board of Trustees, said more money can be freed up for education by doing away with some state bureaucracy through consolidation.

Saying that state requirements like using unionized labor have driven up the cost of constructing school buildings substantially, Magovern stated, “We don’t need new revenue streams.”

Welch said the state needs to make a commitment to funding education every year, not just when times are good. He said he would agree to committing a specific revenue stream for education.

Welch argued there is no better way to improve the economy than to invest in education. Welch also said he favors lessening the financial burden of education on families and striving to make the state public higher education system “the number one system in the country.”

Finn said he would support any initiative to increase funding of the Massachusetts Grant program, which used to fund 80 percent of students’ costs, but now covers only 18 percent. He said it is important that lack of money not hold people back from getting educated and that tuition could be waived for people studying to enter professions like teaching, for which there is a need.

Finn said he opposes Question 3, which would lower state sales taxes from 6.25 percent to 3 percent because it would devastate areas like education.

Neffinger, an architect, said resources could be better used and gave as an example that some classrooms were empty all the time when he taught at the college. While we need to make education affordable, Neffinger said he opposes making it free.

“More spending by government takes away our freedom,” Neffinger said.

Government needs to “get off the backs” of business, he said.

If elected, Neffinger said he would work to free up more money for education by reducing waste and corruption in Boston.